SAN JOSE / Ex-employee wins suit over firing

A federal jury has awarded $350,000 to a Bakers Square restaurant manager in San Jose who was fired after filing a workers' compensation claim for a back injury suffered on the job.

The jury in San Jose found Tuesday that the restaurant's parent company, VICORP Restaurants Inc., discriminated against George Miller Jr. on the basis of disability. Jurors rejected additional claims of race and age discrimination.

Miller, 63, was assistant general manager of a Bakers Square restaurant on East Capitol Expressway in March 2002 when a 350-pound pie cart tipped over and fell on him, said his lawyer, Jack Lee. He returned to work six days later, was turned away by the general manager because of doctors' orders limiting him to a 40-hour work week, and later learned that he had been fired three days after his injury, Lee said.

David Sidran, a lawyer for the company, said Thursday that VICORP denied discriminating against Miller. He said Miller was fired because he failed to report for work or contact the restaurant to explain his absence.